Secret Stash
by Overworkedunderwhelmed
Summary: Alya is surprised to find just how good at keeping secrets her best friend really is. (Spoilers for Troublemaker and Glaciator)
1. Chapter 1

Alya grumbled as she climbed the stairs up to her best friend's room, dropping her bag against the desk. She hadn't been up here in weeks, but those steep stairs were killer.

Of course, Marinette was running late. Again.

She shook her head, crossing her arms as she flopped back onto the chaise. Honestly, that girl was always running late.

At least Sabine had been cool with letting her head up to her room and wait.

Alya pulled out her phone, looking through the Ladyblog forums to bide her time, tapping her toe against the cushion.

* * *

Her eyes drifted to the walls after another fifteen minutes had passed. She was glad to see that Marinette had the good sense to scale back the pictures a little bit. Her seemingly hopeless crush was adorable, but the walls had been a little much.

Of course, she had enough inside information from Nino to know that Sunshine had a bit of a crush of his own on Ladybug. Which was totally understandable to her. She knew for a fact that a very large portion of Paris happened to share that sentiment.

But it didn't change the fact that it was never going to happen. Thanks to her own occasional mask, nobody else knew just how unlikely that was.

Ladybug was all business. Her unfailing sense of duty to the citizens of Paris was a large part of her appeal.

Besides...celebrity relationships were super messy. Even in the unlikely event that Ladybug did change her mind, they would never be able to steal any time alone together.

Sighing, Alya tugged the pillow into her arms, hugging it to her chest as she slumped down into the cushions. If only Marinette could get her act together around Adrien, he would see the natural confidence she possessed.

Even he couldn't be that oblivious...

Alya pressed her lips into a thin line. She just hated to see Marinette feeling so helpless with her feelings. And it was just as frustrating to see Adrien so lonely.

It only made matters worse that Nino totally agreed with her. Getting their friends together would make it far more likely that they all could hang out without the drama, so long as Hawkmoth decided to take a break for any random few hours.

But for all of these months - and all of her best efforts - it seemed like nothing was making it any better.

More than a little agitated, Alya sat up, intent on pacing the floor and coming up with a new plan.

Or at least she was until she got a paper-cut.

Her brows furrowed as she drew the injured finger between her lips, scowling back down at the chaise.

What was a sheet of paper doing tucked down into the chaise cushions?

Frowning, Alya tugged the paper loose.

Except that it wasn't just a sheet of paper at all. It was a picture.

Of Chat Noir.

Jaw dropped, Alya tried to process just why her friend might have hidden pictures of Chat Noir around her room.

And how she managed to get her hands on this one. It was odd that Alya wouldn't recognize a photo, especially one like this, that was way better quality than most of the blurry submissions to the Ladyblog.

Her lips curved as her mind replayed Marinette's every defense of Ladybug's superhero sidekick when they discussed her blog posts came rushing back to her. Her seemingly offhand compliments on the detail on Chat Noir's costume.

That sneak! Alya smirked, tapping the edge of the photo against her lap

Her friend was nursing a secret crush on Chat Noir.

And it was only giving her some new ideas on how to get Adrien and Marinette together once and for all.

* * *

Author's Notes:

I had to do it.

This is totally my head canon now.

Piece is currently un-betaed, so hopefully I didn't make any big mistakes.


	2. Chapter 2

Alya smirked as Marinette scrambled into their classroom a little late for the third day in a row now.

She had spent weeks – watching and waiting, plotting and planning how to best approach all this. Of course, she hadn't exactly expected Marinette to be harboring a secret crush. But why else would her friend have been hiding pictures of Chat Noir in her chaise?

Something had to give.

Interestingly, this wasn't the first time in the past few days that she had caught Adrien smiling at her friend as she dodged and weaved in under the teacher's nose to sneak to her desk.

The boy could deny it all he wanted, but Adrien did notice Marinette.

It was nearly frustrating how Marinette herself kept missing all the little signs.

In the past few days, her conversations with Marinette hadn't wavered from Adrien. So even if it was safe to assume that Marinette was harboring a crush on Chat, she was still laser-focused on her original object of affection.

Alya sighed, dropping her chin onto templed fingers. Her gaze ping-ponged back and forth between the two and her notes throughout the lesson.

Adrien kept sneaking furtive glances back whenever opportunity provided itself, with the barest hint of a smirk.

Meanwhile, Marinette was forever nibbling at her lower lip, tossing lovelorn glances at the back of his head when she assumed no one – not even Alya- might notice.

The pair of them were just totally absurd. Both were just as clueless about the general speculation on the "will they/won't they" as they were of their muddled feelings for one another. Maybe this time, with a small push in the right direction, Adrien might discover the latent feelings he seemed to be holding back.

Alya's eyes narrowed in contemplation, as she tapped the cap of her pen against her lips.

The most obvious methods hadn't worked with Adrien so far – not with as sweetly oblivious as he seemed to be. Truthfully, her best hope was that Marinette would face him and tell him her feelings directly, for better or for worse. But unless her best friend suddenly developed nerves of steel, it seemed unlikely to happen anytime soon.

So there really wasn't any other choice. All that remained were the sneakier methods. Ones she hadn't really considered before.

Of course, she'd never exactly had the level of inside knowledge – or the superpowered edge and cunning – that she now could wield on occasion.

Rhythmically, Alya's fingernails rapped against the desktop. If she could get Marinette to call off her more overt pursuit, she might be able to use her own secret pull to tug on some of the other strings in play.

And if she could manage that, there was hope that her plans might all finally fall into place.

Notes:

I had to do it. This is totally my head canon now.

More of this one is coming!

Thanks to Kellarhi for helping beta-read as I get back into the writing swing! 3


	3. Chapter 3

Notes:

Thanks as always to Enberlight for the beta read! 3

* * *

Though Alya had been anxious for her moment to catch Chat Noir by the tail, Hawkmoth was relentless, sending Akuma after Akuma at random, sometimes on a single day. Ladybug and Chat Noir were often hard-pressed to keep up.

Alya had been out on the streets to gather Ladyblog footage a little more often than usual - despite Nino's growing protests at the danger she was placing herself in - but she had a double motive.

Of course, the Ladyblog came first and foremost. If nothing else, she had made quite the name for herself - and it provided plenty of cover for keeping her own secret identity under wraps, according to Ladybug's request. And she wouldn't trade the chance to keep Paris safe for anything in the world.

But Marinette's crush on Adrien had been driving her nuts for almost a year now.

And something had to give.

Something that wasn't her patience...

* * *

Though she had been out, scrambling to chase down as much footage as she could for the Ladybug, Alya didn't get her first chance to pin down Chat Noir until almost a week later. She stole through the shadows, carrying her Miraculous in hand to where she'd been chasing down the best Ladyblog footage, sure she had figured out the best ways to get through Paris mostly undetected.

Somehow, Ladybug dropped to the alley in front of her, asking for her help in the start of the battle.

Dutifully, Rena Rouge had donned her mask, dogging Ladybug's spotted steps across the rooftops as Chat Noir gathered his bearings.

* * *

It just figured that after she had waited so long that the battle itself took nearly an hour, with Chat Noir having to speed off after using his Cataclysm early.

She sighed heavily, handing back her Miraculous into Ladybug's extended palm.

With an exasperated breath, Alya blew the wayward locks out of her face as Ladybug took back to the skies. Of course, this would only make cornering Chat Noir all that much harder.

* * *

In spite of grumbling all the way home that day, Alya had reached her own room with a sort of epiphany.

She didn't have to get Chat Noir alone at a convenient time. She just needed him during a bit of a lull in a battle. Just the briefest mention - without Ladybug around. She definitely didn't want to do anything to risk Ladybug's good opinion of her, even if it would help out her best friend.

With a grin, she dug through her video interviews saved on her hard drive.

Luckily, at the time, neither of them had even batted an eye when Alya had snagged the pair post-battle, asking about their extra-sensory abilities.

Of course, Chat Noir's hearing and sight were improved. But Ladybug stayed decidedly mum on the matter.

Alya grinned, at the slightest flash of discomfort on Ladybug's eyes. The superheroine hated to lie, even if only by omission.

"This stays off the Ladyblog, Alya."

Alya smiled, echoing her impertinent glee. "Yes, Ma'am."

She was almost entirely certain that Ladybug's senses - outside of anything related to her Lucky Charm - weren't superpowered.

* * *

"You know, Chat…" Rena grinned, leaning over to him as they watched for their opportunity to leap into action and carry out Ladybug's Master Plan. "How seriously do you take your superhero duties?"

"Are you kitten?" He grinned. "For my Lady, I am as serious as a cat can be."

Rena nodding, feigning nonchalance as she peered out across the way to where Ladybug stood, being protected by Carapace's Shell spell. "It's just I do see you helping civilians out from time to time. And I happened to get some good intel from the girl that runs the Ladyblog - last time she snagged me for an interview."

"Oh?" He grinned, ears twitching eagerly for a morsel of gossip.

Rena smirked. "It seems that one of her friends has quite the crush on you."

His grin grew impertinently smug. "Of course," Chat purred. "All the ladies do."

Alya couldn't quite suppress her snort at that, tapping her flute against his shoulder. "Do they? All of the Ladies?"

Chat Noir pouted at that, his shoulders slumping as his nails bit harder into the stone ledge. "I can kind of hope she'll come around eventually."

Rena nudged her shoulder against his. "Cheer up, kitty cat. Sometimes, all it takes is a little wake-up call..."

His green eyes widened, cat-like pupils, blinking back at her eagerly. "What do you mean?"

"You're always at Ladybug's side, right?"

"And I always will be." His lips pressed into a thin line. "No matter what."

"I would expect no less." Rena Rogue smiled, "but that means that she is very much used to you being there. She doesn't have the opportunity to realize what she might have missed."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying the Ladyblogger's friend's situation might actually help you out. So, she's got a bit of a celebrity crush on you. But that pales in comparison to the crush this girl has been nursing for a while now. But it just wasn't going anywhere."

He tilted his head, nearly forgetting about the battle below.

She grinned, nodding her own head back towards their comrades in arms. "That's what reminded me of you. I guess Marinette has been pining away hopelessly so long she started to think you were a good option."

"Hey! Rude." Chat fussed, his lips pursing. "So, Marinette has a little crush on me, huh?"

"That's the part you want to focus on?"

"Well, it's hard not to. It's not every day that you find out someone you've worked with has a crush on you…"

Rena nibbled at her lip, focusing back on the action below. Marinette herself once said that she'd only helped when Nathaniel had been transformed after Ladybug had asked her to. And that meant that she was one of the few other people that Ladybug could trust – outside of herself. "And from what I understand, Ladybug has a high opinion of her, too."

The tips of his claws kept tapping against his baton as he fiddled with it anxiously. "So Alya was trying to gather a bit of intel…?"

"I guess she wanted to see if you might be interested in pretending to pay Marinette a little attention so that the guy she was entirely gone on for years might finally sit up and take notice."

A soft, low whistle echoed through the alleyways below, a signal for them to join the fray.

Moving purely on instinct, Rena Rouge sprang off the ledge down to the line of rooftops. Her fingers tightened on her flute, battle ready.

Say what you want about Chat Noir, but for the force of destruction he could usually be, he was awfully good about connecting the threads. He shook his head, leaping down onto the rooftops behind her.

"So if I pretended to pay a lot of attention to Marinette, Ladybug would be sure to sit up and take notice, right?"

"Mmmhmm," Rena smirked over at him as he caught up...and stumbled right into her snare. "Yeah. I don't really think she'd be able to ignore it…"


End file.
